History, News and Stories of Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA

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•   1777 - First Nail
  The first cut nail in the world was made in 1777 by Jeremiah Wilkinson, of Cumberland, R.I.
  St Joseph Herald
  Saint Joseph, Michigan
  June 19, 1869
  
•   1809 - Earth Trembling
  May 16.
  In Cumberland, R.I., near Attleborough, an extraordinary trembling of earth has been repeatedly noticed of late; sometimes so hard as to break crockery ware. Several persons have removed. It appears to be local.
  
  The Maryland Gazette
  Annapolis, Maryland
  May 24, 1809
  
• 1819 - Cumberland
  Cumberland, a post township, is situated in the northeast corner of the State, about eight miles northeast from Providence; bounded east on Attleborough and Wrentham in Massachusetts, north on Wrentham, Bellingham & Mendon, in Massachusetts, southwesterly on Pawtucket river, which separates it from ... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1839 - Cumberland
  Cumberland, Rhode Island
  Providence county. The manufacture of cotton and boat building is extensively pursued in this town. Pawtucket, Mill and Peter's rivers, and Abbot's run, afford the town a good hydraulic power. There is some good land in Cumberland, producing a variety of articles for... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1842 - COPPER MINE IN RHODE ISLAND
  A rich Copper Mine has been opened at Cumberland, R. I. - Within the last week fifteen tons of ore have been shipped for Boston, from the mine, commenced this season, and worked by four men only. The ore was sent to Liverpool to be sold at the monthly mart of ore at Swansea. There is not a single... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1853 - AWFUL RAILROAD ACCIDENT. FOURTEEN LIVES LOST. THIRTY OR FORTY SERIOUSLY INJURED.
  Disagreeable necessity obliges us to shock the sensibilities of our readers, by the recital of another horrible calamity from a collision of Railway trains.
  
  At 8 o'clock, yesterday morning, a collision occurred on the Providence and Worcester Railroad, which caused the death of fourteen persons, ... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1854 - Cumberland
  Cumberland, a township of Providence co., Rhode Island, 10 miles N. of Providence, on the Providence and Worcester railroad, contains 4 banks. Population, 661.
  A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.
  
• 1859
  CUMBERLAND, a township of Providence co., in the state of Rhode Island, 8 m. N of Providence. It is to some extent hilly, but is in some parts fertile and well-cultivated. Abbott's Mill, and Peter's rivers, by which it is intersected, afford good water-power. Boat-building and the manufacture of... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1869 - In the towns of Cumberland, Smithfield, Blackstone, and Bellingham, R. I.,
  there are seventeen cotton and eight woolen mills, which employ 5,550 hands, run 4,480 looms, and annually use 15,300,000 pounds of cotton. Foundations are now being laid to run 150,000 spindles.
  St Joseph Herald
  Saint Joseph, Michigan
  November 20, 1869
  
•   1877 - Diamond Hill Quarry Company
  The Woonsocket Patriot says that the Diamond Hill Quarry Company of Cumberland, have made a contract with the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company to furnish all the stone for the abutments and piers of that bridge. The contract is a large one, and it will probably require two years to complete it. In order ... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1878 - Ashton
  Ashton.
  Simon Whipple, George Olney, Samuel Clarke, and others purchased this privilege, and built a factory in the year 1810, and spun cotton. Mr. Olney purchased his partners' shares at various times. In 1825, he owned the entire privilege. The management of these men, gave the place the name ... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1878 - Valley Falls
  Valley Falls. In 1870, Messrs. Grey & Fish leased rooms from the Valley Falls Company, and commenced the manufacture of weaver's reeds and harness. From Jan. 1, 1873, to Jan. 1, 1877, Mr. Myron Fish conducted the business alone, after which he admitted Mr. John A. Carter as partner. In December, ... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1885 - A VILLAGE TERRORIZED
  WEST WRENTHAM, Mass., Aug. 1 . - The village of Diamond Hill in Cumberland, just over the line in Rhode Island, is terrorized by a gang of laborers employed on the Pawtucket Water Reservoir building at that place. Citizens do not dare to go out after dark without being armed. Men have been knocked... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1890 - FISHING FOR TURTLES. When the Shell-Backed Monster Bites Run Like a Steer.
  Terrapin or turtle farms are run in the South and on the Pacific coast, but the business has only been tried in New England as an experiment. As experiments, many of these have been failures, so far as a money making basis is concerned, and many are now kept up for the pleasure of the owner, or by... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1895 - Cumberland
  Cumberland, a township of Providence co, R.I., the northeasternmost township in the state. It contains and many interesting minerals, Pop. 8090.
  Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places ... Joseph Thomas January 1, 1895 J.B. Lippincott
  
•   1899 - SERVANT GIRL VANISHES. Apparently Wore Nothing but a Nightrobe and a Picture Hat.
  (Special to the World.)
  PROVIDENCE, R.I., Nov. 5. - Cumberland Hill has a mystery which the town officers and others are trying to unravel. Walter Grant, who has a fine home at Diamond Hill, went to Boston Thursday, and at an intelligence office hired a domestic, who gave her name as Mary... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1900 - TRAPPISTS ARE TO MOVE. Monastery in Nova Scotia to Be Removed to Cumberland in Rhode Island.
  St. John, N. B., April 28. - The trappist monastery at Tracadie, N. S., is soon to be removed to a far near Cumberland, R. I., and the farm at Tracadie abandoned. It was established in 1814. It was founded by members after the house in France was broken up by the Emperor, Napoleon. There are... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1916
  Cumberland, a township (town) of Providence co., R.I., the northeasternmost town in the state. It manufactures cotton, horseshoes, etc., and contains coal and many interesting minerals. Pop. in 1900, 8925.
  Lippincotts New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns, Resorts, Islands, Rivers, Mountains, Seas, Lakes, Etc., in Every Portion of the Globe, Part 1 Angelo Heilprin Louis Heilprin - January 1, 1916 J.B. Lippincott - Publisher
  
•   1924 - GAS EXPLOSION KILLS FIFTEEN
  Man Strikes Match in Gas-Filled Room of Tenement House; Family Dies
  
  (By Tribune's Special Leased Wire)
  CUMBERLAND, R.I., Jan. 28 - Fifteen persons met death in a terrific gas explosion that early to-day demolished a tenement house owned by the Manville Mills. An entire family - mother, father... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1928 - Nine Men's Misery monument in Cumberland was erected in memory of the colonists killed in Pierce's Fight during King Phillips War in 1676.
  The monument was erected in 1928, by monks living in a nearby monastery.
  bucklinsociety.net/ bucklin-family-history/ william-bucklin/ nine-mens-misery/
  
•   1934 - Communist Plot Rumored To Dynamite Water Supply
  CUMBERLAND, R.I., Sept. 14. - (UP) - Unconfirmed rumors of a communist plot to dynamite Pawtucket's water supply spread today and police guards were assigned to the reservoir at Diamond Hill in this town.
  
  Neither state nor local police would admit having received tips indicating such a plot,... Read MORE...
  
  
• 1949 - Testimony of Water Shortage in New England
  ...The old stone walls of farmlands flooded 62 years ago are visible in the top picture [illegible] of the Diamond Hill reservoir, Cumberland R.I., which also serves to show a typical example of the acute water shortage throughout the New England area...
  Fitchburg Sentinel
  Fitchburg, Massachusetts
  November 15, 1949
  
•   1950 - Monastery in Rhode Island Is Destroyed
  Cumberland Hill, R. I. (UP) - Fire early today destroyed the hilltop Cistercian monastery of Our Lady of the Valley, built by the patient hands of Trappist monks.
  
  The blaze apparently broke out in the infirmary of the massive granite structure, driving 110 monks and 20 guests from the four... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1955 - Industrial Blaze Ends 2,000 Jobs in Rhode Island
  CUMBERLAND, R.I., Sept. 13 - (INS) - Two thousand persons were left jobless today by a $5 million fire which destroyed five buildings of the Manville Mills on the banks of the Blackstone River.
  
  Firefighter James Bannon of Pawtucket was hospitalized for a fractured leg suffered when he fell while ... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1967 - It Was Good Ski Season For New England Resorts
  ...Rhode Island ski resorts survived abnormal warm weather in January to record a good season, with one exception. The January snow lack was balanced by good falls in other months plus many cold nights for the making of machine snow.
  
  Three of the four resort owners in Rhode Island listed 30... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1976 - Blast Destroys Aerosol Plant
  CUMBERLAND, R.I. (AP) - "When I got to the window, there was no wall left. It just blew me right through," said Norman Brule.
  
  Brule was one of at least 27 persons working in the Peterson-Puritan Aerosol spray plant when an explosion ripped through the building Saturday, tossing chunks of cement... Read MORE...
  
  
•   1976 - Century-old twins
  CUMBERLAND, R.I. (AP) - Emmanuel and Samuel Lussier's relatives are planning a centennial celebration of their own next year when the twin brothers reach a landmark birthday.
  
  Emmanuel and Samuel were born Aug. 11, 1877. They are believed to be the oldest male twins in New England.
  The Portsmouth Herald
  Portsmouth, New Hampshire
  November 11, 1976
  
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• "Discover Rhode Island" Premier - Episode 1: Lincoln-Cumberland, RI